Bummer. They have very good foreign coverage.
It looks like they are on their way to becoming a web-only news source.
Category: Business
From the Department of the Blatantly Obvious
Media analyst Ken Doctor suggests that newspapers are losing subscribers and advertisers because they have been consistently lowering the standards of the product though reductions in news gathering staff.
He’s right, of course.
747-8 Development Costs Jump
2008 has not been a good year for Boeing.
The 787 is late, nothing is moving because of the strike, and now the development cost of their next model of 747 has escalated.
US Has a 3rd World Health Care System
The money quote is, “This international gap has widened even though the United States devotes a far greater share of its national wealth to health care than other countries. In 2006, Americans spent $6,714 per capita on health — more than twice the average of other industrialized countries.”
The gap referred to is infant mortality in the United States, and our numbers stink.
Because Customers are Bothersome Things
It appears that Hotels are following the lead of airlines by having abusive fine print clauses, and just generally making customers uncomfortable.
Yeah, like travel and entertainment will save this economy.
Menage à Bank
Well, it looks like Citi and Wells are going after it hammer and tongs over who gets wachovia.
First, Citi got a NY state judge to grant an injunction against Wells proceeding, and then Wachovia went to Federal Court to overturn that, and he
vacated the lower court ruling, as did a New York state appellate court.
Basically, Citi was going to pay $1/share, and getting money from the FDIC, and Wells is offering $7/share with no FDIC involvement.
Not sure what Citi’s motive is, but they seem to be eager to spend this money, for reasons that are unclear to me, particularly since they have lost money in the past few quarters.
Not Enough Bullets, Part 2 of Who Knows How Many
Alan H. Fishman. former CEO of the former Bank Wamu, got $20 million for his 17 days on the job:
According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, WaMu threw a $7.5 million bonus at Fishman when it hired him on Sept. 8, and guaranteed him an immediate cash severence of $11.6 million — both of which he gets to keep.
He also was eligible for annual bonuses of up to 365 percent of his annual base pay — set at $1 million — to go with millions of shares of company stock.
Fishman does lose out on a big bonus that would have kicked in had he remained on the job through 2009.
We are paying a bunch of Harvard MBAs to fail, and not surprisingly, that’s what they produce, failure.
Of course, the employees and their pensions….C’est caduc.
Not Enough Bullets
It looks like former AIG CEO CEO Maurice “Hank” Greenberg will net over a billion dollars on the sale.
He should be looking for dishwasher work.
Me Bad
It appears that the Wachovia-Citi deal is off, and they will be purchased by Wells Fargo, though Citi is saying that Wachovia can’t back out of the deal.
My guess is that they are looking for a breakup fee.
Interestingly enough, the Wells deal does not require FDIC assistance.
All I can say is that it was a done deal yesterday evening.
Well, This Has Fiasco Written All Over It
It appears that Goldman Sachs is look at buying IndyMac, or at least parts of IndyMac, to build out a retail banking network.
Is it just me, or does this have “Epic Fail” written all over it?
Why Friends Don’t Let Friends Use AT&T
Because when a company buries customer rights in a 2500 page manual, one can be reasonably assured that they are not customer friendly in their outlook.
Boo Yah!!!!
I was reading this article about the spate of aerial encounters between Russian bombers and NATO aircraft, and it appears that it gets pilots pumped up on both sides.
Regardless of the political fallout of the situation, pilots on both sides just love this stuff.
In any case, a commenter at this article, after noting that the Russian pilots get only about $800/month, said something very wise:
[R]ather than build JSF or Raptors, why not just take that money, and recruit Russian pilots away? We can move them into foreclosed condo’s down in So Beach, pay them twice what they make, and I think save the American Taxpayer a ton of money.
Very wise.
Saab Unveils New Erieye Platform
The EADS Casa’s C-295 transport.
I’m thinking that with its high wing design, incorporating the radar directly into the structure would be quite doable, but I think right now, they are looking at minimizing the engineering resources for integration.
ATK Looks to Take Drone Market to Anti Ship Missile
This is not surprising. The SS-N-27 Sizzler is a tough nut to crack to create a viable simulator, and in doing so, it means that ATK will have accumulated the expertise necessary to create a full up missile version.
I would not be at all surprised if they have the missile on the market in the next 5-7 years.
Background here.
And in the Financial Collapse Race, WaMu is Coming up on the Right
Well it appears that Washington Mutual is trying to find someone to buy them, and their large institutional investors have have agreed to waive a stock dilution clause, which, along with reports that US Regulators are helping them look for a buyer does not bode well for the company.
In any case, it appears that Citi has given the deal a pass.
Meanwhile, in an excercise of remarkably good journalism, Matthew Garrahan of the Financial Times went to the bank, and saw that people are queuing up to get their money out.
Dead bank walking.
Stupid Lawsuit of the Day
Merrill Lynch shareholders suing, because they think that they did not get enough from Bank of America to buy them.
If BoA shareholders sued, they would have a case, because Merril shows every sign of being like Countrywide, where every few days/weeks, more unpleaseantness will be found as rocks are turned over.
BoA bought itself another money pit.
I approve of the right to litigate, but this is a stupid lawsuit.
If This Was a War for Oil, We Fscked That Up Too
Because Iraq just signed a $3 billion contact for oil services with CNPC, the Chinese state owned oil company.
Bush and His Evil Minions&trade: fscking things up since day 1.
Boeing and SPEEA Call Names
It appears that Boeing management is unhappy with the SPEEA press releases regarding Boeing’s senior executive pensions and its use and of the H1b program.
Boeing complained that they issued the press release without waiting for a response, and SPEEA executive director Ray Goforth says that Boeing never responds to replies for information.
I’m inclined to believe the SPEEA in all this.
Background here.
Eclipse Aviation Lays Off Workers
Looks like they will cut about 650 employees, ending up with about 1100.
They have had real problems getting their production model to work, a just in time system that resembles the big auto makers, and I’m not at all surprised by this development.
Homophobic Hotel Owner Faces Blowback
It appears that despite protestations to the contrary, Douglas Manchester’s 6 figure contribution to the California hate amendment banning gay marriage has raised concerns about potentially significant business setbacks for his hotel.
Background here.
Hate is not an American value, and Americans should not patronize bigots.